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HQ:
Shas’El w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Targeting array, hard-wired multi-tracker and hard-wired drone controller + 2 shield drones – 127pts

Elites:
2x Crisis Battlesuit w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker – 124pts
Crisis Battlesuit w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker – 62pts
Crisis Battlesuit w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker – 62pts

Troops:
10x Fire Warriors – 100pts
10x Fire Warriors – 100pts
10x Fire Warriors – 100pts

Fast Attack:
6x Pathfinders w/ Devilfish + Dpods - 145pts
6x Pathfinders w/ Devilfish + Dpods - 145pts

Heavy Support:
2 Broadsides w/ Advanced Stabilisation System + Team leader w/ Bonding Knife, HW Target Lock and HW drone controller + 2 shield drones – 205pts
Hammerhead Gunship w/ Railgun, Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker and Disruption Pods - 165pts
Hammerhead Gunship w/ Railgun, Burst Cannons, Multi-tracker and Disruption Pods - 165pts

Total - 1500pts

I've used variations of this list before but decided to throw out my latest re-working to the general public. My previous variations have been mainly successful (1 draw, 1 loss and 8 wins was the run for my previous list) and haven't run a single bonding knife. Ever. Nor did they have shield drones on my crisis battlesuits or commanders.

I have yet to be convinced that:
Bonding knives are necessary.
Crisis Battlesuits need shield generators/drones to survive.
Kroot are better than Fire Warriors.

Because of my deep dislike of Kroot, they never make my armies, similarly with stealth teams. If I don't like the unit, I won't use it. Simple as that. This is also an easy to way to catch out skim-readers who look at a list and nothing else. Those of you who seriously suggest kroot/stealth teams will be ignored, as you obviously won't have a clue about what the guy using the list thinks and wants.

I know I said earlier that I don't see the point in bonding knives, but I thought i'd try them out on the broadsides. Even with shield drones, a 2+ save and most likely cover too, they'll be getting shot whenever possible. The Fire Warriors don't get shot at much, and they only take 1-2 casualties when they do; the Pathfinder devilfish can ferry them to cover or out of harms way if necessary. Pathfinders deploy in cover and light up enemies. Remember that smoke launcher cover save? Yeah, you don't have it anymore...

You may recall that I also said crisis suits don't need shields. I thought i'd try them out anyway. Shas'El join the unit of 2 crisis suits, they block line of sight to the suit behind them, and he to the suit behind him and they conga-line merrily up the field. I've done it before without the shield drones, so I assume it just makes it simpler. (It's also fun for an enemy to target a crisis suits with his heavy weapons, kill it, start using the remaining weapons to hit the other ones only for me to tell him that it was Monat, the others are in seperate units. If you're going to assume that they're a single unit, then you pay the price. Never assume!

The broadsides do what they always do. Deploy on the top of a large building or just a building in my deployment zone and have a sniping contest with the hammerheads below them. In a DoW scenario they ponder on wherever and because my opponent never thought to ask me what an A.S.S. is, snipe the vehicles he left sitting there because he thought they wouldn't be able to shoot. Hammerheads partake in the sniping contest and/or whizz around, moving 12" to the side armour and blasting a hole in it. They might also lay a few submunition templates if there's a particularly juicy target, with pathfinders removing cover if it benefits the enemy squad (Marines will get a 3+ anyway, so I won't bother, guardsmen or orks etc. ill need the cover, so they lose it).

Fire warriors sit tight, taking potshots at whatever they feel like or beating down a lictor or a squad of harlies like they have done previously. If it's Annihilation, then they'll be whisked away in devilfish if they look to be taking a beating, or in objectives games they'll be fired over towards the nearest objective(s).

Avatar 720 wrote:I have yet to be convinced that:
Bonding knives are necessary.
Crisis Battlesuits need shield generators/drones to survive.
Kroot are better than Fire Warriors.

And I'm not going to try.

The list is fine, in fact, probably the most generic build for 1500 that I can think of. Generic doesn't mean bad; it means optimum.

Avatar 720 wrote:HQ:
Shas’El w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod, Targeting array, hard-wired multi-tracker and hard-wired drone controller + 2 shield drones – 127pts

Elites:
2x Crisis Battlesuit w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker – 124pts
Crisis Battlesuit w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker – 62pts
Crisis Battlesuit w/ Plasma Rifle, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker – 62pts

Troops:
10x Fire Warriors – 100pts
10x Fire Warriors – 100pts
10x Fire Warriors – 100pts

Why the preference of more FireWarriors over Crisis Suits?

Brothererekose wrote:

Avatar 720 wrote:I have yet to be convinced that:
Bonding knives are necessary.
Crisis Battlesuits need shield generators/drones to survive.
Kroot are better than Fire Warriors.

And I'm not going to try.

The list is fine, in fact, probably the most generic build for 1500 that I can think of. Generic doesn't mean bad; it means optimum.

I would agree with Brother Erekose's advice.

This is a good list. The only thing I see as a weakness is your fire-warriors.

In my experience, they don't do extremely well camping in the back. I wanted to play gunline Tau originally, but they widdle away to fast. After a while I just got fed up and gave them devilfish...

If you do fine with them in the back, great!

I would suggest haveing your Pathfinder D-fish to stay next to them, just to get them out of trouble fast if necessary.


It's a great list, just that is all I can really see that would be a weakness ever.

Great list. I would be inclined to get more Crisis Suits instead of a squad of fire warriors, but thats because I love Crisis Suits so its more of a personal preferance.

I adopted a Firebomb tactic, 1 monat with TL flamer & fusion blaster to deepstrike behind the enemy and terrorise them, can take out tanks or hordes, had alot of success against an ork player last week, took out an artillery piece and a tank in 2 turns. Very cheap too!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Great list. I would be inclined to get more Crisis Suits instead of a squad of fire warriors, but thats because I love Crisis Suits so its more of a personal preferance.

I adopted a Firebomb tactic, 1 monat with TL flamer & fusion blaster to deepstrike behind the enemy and terrorise them, can take out tanks or hordes, had alot of success against an ork player last week, took out an artillery piece and a tank in 2 turns. Very cheap too!

Perfect feedback ^_^ Nothing better than a general concensus of "Yup, it's fine." to get the feeling of wanting a game going.

@Striderx: I don't know about the preference. It just doesn't feel right to have FWs under 8-man strength at anything above 500-750pts, or in less than 3-4 squads at 1500pts. I also don't like having anything that squishy and low in number on the field. If it was an objectives game, the safest place for smaller squads or fewer squads would be the pathfinder devilfish, and i'm not a fan of hiding things in transports all game only to use them for a mad dash to an objective at the end, i'd prefer them to be in the thick of it, being ferried out of danger if they take too many losses as opposed to not taking the risk altogether.

@The Bringer: I've had mixed success with gunline FWs. When in cover they can draw and soak up reasonable amounts of fire, and I prefer them being further back to utilise the extra 12" they get over bolters, although in the age of mech I guess it's not much of a benefit, although it does allow them to tackle DE's Raiders and Ravagers whilst the railguns take out any Chronos' /Talos' that wander along, or free up the hammerheads to submunition some cover-stripped warriors. It is only 1 army they can do this against, but they've just been released, so I have a feeling that i'll be seeing them quite often.

I also don't have the points for extra fish. I can use the pathfinder fish for two of them, but if the pathfinders are threatened then i'm a bit stuck; at least if they're out in the open they can run for cover whilst the devilfish tends to the pathfinders.

@Deathbysoup: I'd like more crisis suits, but sacrificing the FWs for them when there aren't many to begin with feels a bit cheap, kind of like the SWolves lists you seeing with bare minimum GHs in razorbacks and a rune priest or two so they can afford three maxxed squads of ML long fangs with razorback each.

As I go up to 2k points, i'll probably add more suits, but for now I can't really justify cutting the FWs down to the minimum for an extra suit or two. Firebombs are also nice, but i'm not one for sacrificial units. I'd have to TL the fusion blaster though, there's too much riding on taking out the tank for me to spend 43pts and an Elite slot on something dies if it fluffs the shot. As it stands, i'm preferring the Fireknife set-up (it's always been a good set-up for me), but i'm likely to try and branch out into Deathrains or Firebombs if things start getting hairy.

I didn't mean any extra fish, just give the ones that your pathfinders have to them.

In my experience, since a ML is a heavy weapon, if your pathfinders are in danger, they might as well die. At most they can fall back while firing pulse carbines, but that won't do a great deal.

Also, if you put the pathfinders in a good piece of high terrain, in the back of your army, they will probably be safe. I've never had my pathfinders in any danger that they could normally be free of.